National newspaper ABCs: Industry-wide circulation decline continues as Metro and Sun top the table

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The Metro has climbed ahead of the Sun’s print circulation for the second time as an industry-wide decline in national newspapers continues, according to the latest ABC figures.

The free newspaper distributed 1,476,169 copies in May, down 0.24 per cent – the smallest fall of any national title.

The Sun fell 6.49 per cent to a circulation of 1,473,773. Its website has grown by 11.68 to 5,511,648 daily average unique browsers.

The Daily Mail remains in third place, with a circulation of 1,277,409 after a year-on-year drop of 11.49 per cent. Britain’s top-selling mid-market newspaper opted to stop selling bulks from January this year. It sold 65,000 bulks in May 2017.

A Daily Mail spokesperson told Press Gazette that comparing like-for-like without bulks, the newspaper’s circulation decline would be 7.5 per cent year-on-year.

Roland Agambar, chief marketing officer at Mail Newspapers, said: “The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday’s high-quality editorial content supported by a leading marketing and loyalty programme continues to attract loyal readers, so it’s no surprise that they continue to outperform the market and put more money into retailers’ tills than any of their competitor titles.”

The Telegraph has once again seen its circulation drop by a fifth year-on-year – the biggest fall of any national newspaper – to 376,650, but attributes this to its own decision to end bulk sales in January.